That Nintendo Wii sensor bar isn’t what it’s all cracked up to be. Alan Parekh explains it’s simplicity by exposing it’s composition of just a few IR LEDs. Then, he manages to turn an ordinary TV remote control into a working Wii sensor bar. All it requires is a few holes drilled in that old remote of yours. And if it turns out that the remote has some extra IR LEDs inside of it, then you’ve just saved yourself from making a trip to the store to get more.

For the finale, you just disconnect the existing battery connection to the remote control circuit and connect it to the LEDs you just mounted in the drilled holes. With that, you’ll have the most unique sensor bar around town, but you won’t be able to switch the TV to input.

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Ever have a cathode ray tube blow up in your face? You poor soul. With your disfigured mug, there’s little that could possibly cheer you up. After all, if I looked like the Two-Face I’d probably throw myself from a pier. This clock is sure to remind you of that terrible day your face became disfigured. That or your days as a Captain in the Navy.

A cathode ray tube sits inside a transparent acrylic tube. It might look like the guts of your old monitor but in actuality it is a clock that displays various formats of time thanks to a SC200 clock board. Nixie enthusiast David Forbes is eager to sell these works of art for an eye-gouging $999.  The intricate design shows an astounding amount of commitment thrown in that’ll complement any mantle.

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Found on Youtube, here’s a cool video of a guy who used 18 LEDs and an Arduino to fade the lights on a project case. The end result? A machine looking very similar to Knight Rider’s KITT. If you want to build your own, the creator, John Tokash, has included a HOWTO and Arduino code on his website. Get buildin’, Hoff!

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Look, I know Kevin, Brenda and Dylan are coming over tonight with a bottle of vodka they got a college kid to buy, but seriously guys, if I get caught having one more party, I’m boogered! We’re going to need some tunes for this jammin’ event, so make sure you bring your favorite mixtape, Dylan. Me? Oh, I have this sweet 90210 iPod Nano. I know, right? It has pictures of us all over it, limited edition artwork and only 2000 were available from CBS. Luckily, my dad, who’s a lawyer, was able to get me one. Said it only ran him around $270. Anyways, no matter. It won’t be invented for another 10 years or so. Let’s get drunk and crash our parent’s convertibles!

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Hey look, it’s Hayden Christensen! And he’s got an armpit TV. Is there anything that young man can’t do? Wait, what? Oh. I’m getting word from the boss-man that that’s not Hayden Christensen. But that is an armpit with a display. What a bummer.

Deodorant manufacturer Right Guard has created an armpit-based method of advertising in London which it’s calling “pitvertising.” It felt that this was the ideal way to market its products. Right Guard even hired a team of “pitvertisers”, like this Hayden Christensen doppelganger, and sent them out into the streets of London for a trial run of this new medium. Needless to say, everyone was disgusted.

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We’ve got a bad case of Arduino fever over here at Gearfuse and some homebrew projects are our only cure! That aside, you can now use a code library to use a universal television remote to control your Arduino-based project. The official word:

The library implements the NEC IR protocol, so set up the universal remote for any NEC device (TV, DVD, VCR, …) and the 32-bit codes should be received.

The example sketch provided just prints out IR codes as they’re received, so it’s good to run that sketch to see what codes the remote is sending, so they can later be used to trigger specific actions

If you’re currently working on an Arduino-based project, this is a must see.

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A few years ago, the phrase DVR meant TiVo. If you were recording TV shows, you were TiVoing. Times changed, TiVo panicked and the company stopped offering lifetime subscriptions. Ever since then, TiVo’s charisma has been flawed and the company has been offering extras to subscribers to placate them year after year.

Thankfully, the company has realized the error of its ways and will now offer lifetime subscriptions again. Unfortunately, the price-tag that comes with it isn’t all that great. Be prepared to shell out $399. Not only that, the subscription is box-specific, meaning that you can’t upgrade to that Series 3 without shelling out more bucks.

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Ever wonder why burglars are less likely to break into your home if they see a TV glare off of a window? Me too. Chances are it’s just some lazy couch potato that you could mug for a few hundred bucks, but instead, burglars take the safe approach, waiting for signs of vacancy before breaking in and leaving with a necklace, pearl earrings and a new toaster.

With Blaine Readler’s invention, the FakeTV, you need not worry about toaster-stealing crooks. This simplistic idea is an easy way to emulate a television to make it appear as if you’re home watching Conan. Sure, you could leave your television and rack up your electric bill, but this is a cheaper, alternative solution. If this burglar just so happens to not care whether you’re home or not, he/she is now in possession of an awesome new FakeTV.

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Distractable drivers beware. This Touchscreen Sun Visor is just another way for you to swerve lanes and miss red lights as you ogle at the DVD or TV you watch, thanks to the ultra-sensitive TV tuner included. It also has radio, but so does your car.

So, yeah, we’re pretty sure that the Touchscreen Sun Visor is made for passengers, and not drivers, but something tells me that all it takes is a sudden dose of ADD to be totally infatuated with the episode of Family Guy that your passenger is watching. Get yours for $128. Hit the jump for specs and more pics. (more…)

Here’s a pretty cool remote control concept I came across. Touting itself as a no-touch Remote Control, the device designed by a Dutch Student for Bang & Olufsen features an unorthodox mechanism which entails sweeping your hand through a vacant space in the device in order to control your TV.

To change the channel, just slide your finger through the open space on the remote. To change the volume, place your finger inside of the remote cavity, and watch as the remote changes angles to simulate the falling or rising volume. I’m not seeing much of a future for a device like this, but the concept is intriguing. (more…)